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Alternative energy has been hailed as a feasible resolution to the environmental degradation and energy problems that have plagued Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) recently. The expansion of the clean energy sector, on the other hand, relies on economic growth, effective governance, and financial considerations. As a result, it is important to investigate the links between these variables in SSA. This study investigated the influence of economic growth, institutional quality, foreign direct investment (FDI), and financial development on renewable energy at the national threshold in SSA using a two-step difference GMM model based on panel data collected from 2002 to 2019. The outcome shows that economic growth and all three financial development indicators (FD1, FD2 and FD3) have a positive significant relationship with renewable energy. Furthermore, for SSA countries, FDI, as well as all six proxy factors for institutional quality, had a negative significant influence on renewable energy. Our empirical findings propose a variety of policies that might help the renewable energy sector grow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study draws motivation from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with a special focus on SDGs 7 and 13, which highlight the need for access to clean and affordable energy in an environment devoid of emissions; it addresses climate change mitigation in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa. To this end, a carbon-income function setting for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is constructed. The dynamic relationship between financial development and climate change is evaluated using three indicators and foreign direct investment and carbon dioxide emissions (CO2), while accounting for regulatory institutional quality using a "generalized method of a moment" estimation technique that addresses both heterogeneous cross-sectional issues. Empirical results obtained showed a positive statistical relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions in SSA at the <0.01 significance level. This suggests that, in SSA, the economic growth path is pollutant emissions driven. This indicates that SSA is still at the scale phase of her growth trajectory. However, an important finding from the present study is that regulatory institutional indicators, such as political stability, government effectiveness, control of corruption, and voice and accountability, all exert a negative effect on CO2 emissions. This implies that regulatory measures militate against emissions in SSA. Based on the empirical findings of this study, it can be concluded that clean FDI inflows assist in ameliorating emissions. Thus, the need for a paradigm shift to cleaner technologies, such as renewables, that are more eco-friendly, is encouraged in Sub-Saharan Africa, as the current study demonstrates the mitigating role of renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions. Further policy prescriptions are presented in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following global debate on clean and responsible access to energy (electricity), access to recreation (tourism), technological innovation, and economic growth for sustainable development as captured by the Human Development Index (HDI), the present study is motivated by the inconclusive guidance found in the literature on technology, tourism industry, and energy. This study adopts the Pedroni residual cointegration test to investigate the cointegration properties of the variables under consideration, while the mean group (MG), dynamic fixed effect (DFE), and the pooled mean group (PMG) estimators are employed for simultaneous short‐ and long‐run analysis. The study is based on annual frequency data from 1995 to 2016 with the adoption of panel analysis to show that technological innovation, tourism development, and access to electricity affected the HDI significantly in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) over the investigated study period. This is instructive for policymakers, as the highlighted sectors are good predictors of sustainable development. Furthermore, consolidating the results that tourism development, electricity access, and technological innovation improves economic development. On the other hand, the growth‐induced, HDI‐fitted model reflects the importance of the examined variables in the sustainable development agenda of the continent. For instance, a 1% increase in tourism increases economic growth by 0.0195%. Similarly, a 1% increase in access to electricity and technological development increases economic growth by 0.0019% and 0.0009%, respectively. In conclusion, this study highlights the multifaceted merits that can be gleaned from access to electricity, tourism, and technological innovation in SSA, as they improve economic growth and HDI indicators that comprise life expectancy, quality education, and per capita income level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation for this study stems from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN‐SDGs) and their impact by 2030. The UN highlights 17 SDGs that address pertinent local and global issues, one of which—SDG‐10—has been devoted to reducing inequality. This study investigates the nexus between trade openness, foreign direct investment (FDI), and income inequality in sub‐Saharan Africa using panel data from 2000 to 2015 and the generalized method of moment (GMM) technique approach. The findings show that FDI and income have a negative, statistically significant relationship with income inequality, signifying that as FDI and income per capita increase, the level of income inequality decreases. However, trade openness, education, political stability, corruption, and rule of law have a positive, statistically significant relationship with inequality. This study, therefore, offers some recommendations that will help policymakers. First, develop good policies to attract more foreign investors, which will contribute to creating employment opportunities in the region. Second, create more infrastructures to provide good quality education. Third, implement a good policy to motivate local production which will contribute to creating jobs. Fourth, build a strong institution(s) to fight against corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]